It is not a secret that it is possible to acquire various electronics at huge discounts on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. What is not common is to find a compelling deal on electronics that is trendy, popular and pretty expensive on regular days. In this article we will try to explore the most interesting deals from large store chains and try to guess whether those discounts are just "doorbusters" or have chances to become regular in the next few months.

Laptop with Blu-Ray Drive for $499

Although Blu-ray technology can hardly be called brand-new, personal computers with a BD drive are still not available absolutely everywhere. While there are a number of sub-$800 personal computers with Blu-ray, there are still no systems below $500 with a BD drive. Sony and Best Buy will also correct this for Black Friday.

Only on the 26th of November, 2010, Sony will presumably offer Vaio EB-series notebook PC with Intel dual-core Core i3/Pentium microprocessor, 4GB of memory 15.5" screen with 1920x1080 resolution, a Blu-ray drive and all the other necessary hardware (like HDD, Wi-Fi, etc) for $499 in Best Buy stores. The machine, which usually costs starting from $649, will be also equipped with a free Sony bag and a free Karate Kid Blu-ray movie will be included.

At present it is unclear whether the Vaio EB laptops with BD drives for $499 will be available in all Best Buy stores across the U.S., but the fact that notebooks with Blu-ray and full-HD screens at $499 price-point are possible is definitely noteworthy. The notebook is not ideal, it weighs 5.95 pounds, or 2.7 kilograms, but for a user looking forward a portable multimedia center this one will be a good choice.

Thanks to major improvements in multimedia performance of laptops next year due to releases of Intel Sandy Bridge microprocessors as well as AMD Fusion "Llano" accelerated processing units (APU), it is completely logical to expect Blu-ray disc drives in mainstream notebooks at below $500. Consumers may get their inexpensive BD-equipped machine on Black Friday or wait for several months to get something with even better hardware inside.